This Hawaii Real Estate Developer Calls Himself A ‘Social Worker At Heart’

Hawaiian-born real estate developer Peter Savio has a reputation for dreaming big. Much like scenes from imaginative bedtime stories, Savio’s vision for Hawaii’s future goes beyond the typical developer’s blueprints.

While he has had a long career converting lower priced condominiums and selling properties at lower prices to create affordable housing on the islands, he is now expanding his horizons to reinvent energy and farmland ownership .

Savio, 72, plans to sell solar panels the same way condos do, reselling farmland at cost to farmers at the Waialua Farmers Co-Op. He recently said he was considering running for Republican governor.

“He’s just always full of ideas, millions of them,” said his wife Phyllis Savio.

Peter Savio, 72, smiled for his close-up and asked the photographer to make sure he looked “tall, dark and handsome”. Cory Lum/Civil Beat/2022

Savio built a real estate empire by remodeling older buildings and selling over 30,000 residential, hotel and commercial condominiums and doing simple conversions across the islands.

However, he said he sacrificed millions in profits to keep his project costs down so he could provide affordable housing for low- to middle-income people in Hawaii.

Savio announced last year that he would build a solar farm in Waikele on land he already owns. He said the solar installations are open for anyone to purchase and will help locals invest equity in renewable energy.

“People on welfare, people from Section 8 housing can buy into our solar program and now they could have electricity for free,” he said. Similar to owning a home, Savio said, people could rent or sell their solar panels if they plan to move.

However, he has not yet spoken to Hawaiian Electric about a proposal for a community-based renewable energy project, according to Jim Kelly, the utility’s vice president of government and community relations and corporate communications.

Unlike the solar project, Savio says his plans for the Waialua Farmer’s Co-Op Market are well underway. On Monday, he said he was finalizing the purchase of 280 acres of the Dole plantation — land originally leased to Waialua sugar plantation workers in the 1990s.

Savio said farmers couldn’t buy individual fee conversions from Dole, so he buys a huge lot and divides it up to resell “at cost.” He estimates that each acre could sell for about $120,000, but he’s selling it for about half that to keep it affordable for farmers and anticipates a total profit of about $1 million.

“A typical developer could have made $15 million or $10 million in profit on this deal, but to me, it’s not about profit,” he said after taking a bite of sweet French toast at his usual spot at the Pagoda Floating Restaurant. “I’m truly a social worker at heart.”

Savio recently sold the Pagoda Hotel to local buyer Rycroft Holdings LLC for an undisclosed amount after saying he was struggling to earn revenue due to the pandemic-related slowdown in tourism.

Help the outsider

Savio’s life in real estate began before he was born. His mother founded Tropic Shores Realty in the 1950s. When Savio was 15, he and his 18-year-old sister, Helen Savio, owned their first condo at the Waikiki Skyliner.

Savio’s views on home ownership have remained the same over the decades. They’re also well documented in columns he wrote for The Honolulu Advertiser in the 1990s, with headlines like: “Falling interest rates are good news” and “Brace yourself, Hawaii, buyers are coming.”

“While this trend has gone from a trickle to a steady flow, I believe it will continue to increase as more mainland buyers take advantage of the wealth created by a strong national economy to invest in low-priced assets in the Hawaii real estate market.” acquire,” he wrote in 1998. “To paraphrase patriot Paul Revere, ‘The buyers come, the buyers come.’”

Savio offered financial advice and encouraged locals young and old to buy a home rather than rent it — an investment he said would bring financial security and general happiness.

“The person who rents is never going to get anywhere,” he said, blaming state policy for promoting a system that shuts out locals from the condominium market, causing the median price of a home to hit $1 million last year.

Some of Savio’s most notable projects include the Prince Tower at Queen Emma Gardens, a 334-unit condominium; Rycroft Terrace, a designated 162-unit affordable development; and the Ala Wai Terrace, a 44-unit former hotel.

“He’s a good soul, a kind person and likes to help the outsiders,” said his sister Sue Savio.

He choked as he related the story of a woman living in Section 8 – the Housing Choice Voucher Program – who decades later wrote him a thank you letter for lending her the down payment on her house. She wrote to him after learning she was dying of cancer in a couple of weeks, letting Savio know she could get her kids through school on her own.

But while Savio may see himself as a savior for homebuyers in Hawaii, others have a different opinion.

past criticism

Savio came under criticism in the mid-1980s for being the main agent managing the Bishop Estate’s residential leasehold land, which allowed people to own homes for a set period of time – usually 55 years – and a set price. During a debate about ending the practice, many older adults and people with disabilities were reportedly denied the opportunity to purchase their property for a fee.

The Savio Group, meanwhile, became the largest operating leasehold-to-fee converter in Hawaii, converting over 26,000 units in more than 230 buildings from leasehold to feehold.

“I think he’s a crook,” said James Wright, a former trustee attorney. “He was really needlessly rude to the tenants when he was doing the Bishop Estate’s dirty work and it really offended people.”

Savio notes that real estate values ​​rose rapidly, benefiting those who were able to buy their properties.

“Everyone should have bought. It was so logical, so obvious, but also very emotional for a lot of families,” Savio said. “I like to defend what I’ve done.”

Savio sold the Pagoda Hotel to a local buyer in January after financial difficulties. Cory Lum/Civil Beat/2020

Realizing that the leasehold system was outdated, Savio began buying up old leasehold properties such as the Diamond Head Beach Hotel, Queen Emma Gardens, and Ala Wai Terrace, and then selling individual fee-paying simple units at a profit.

Savio’s eldest daughter, Jessica, recalls being bullied by adults at school because of her father’s actions. Afterwards, Savio took her to work to show her around the shop so she “realized that he wasn’t this bad guy.”

Savio said that, looking back, he did far more good than harm to the community by creating homeownership opportunities for people who never felt able to do so.

Rebranding with empty pockets

According to a 2005 article in Pacific Business News, Savio filed for bankruptcy three times in 2001.

In February 2001, he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for Savio Development Co. Inc., citing $50.5 million in debt and $47.8 million in assets. A month later, he applied for Chapter 11 protection for his personal belongings. And in August, he filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy for parent company Savio Inc., claiming $5 million in debt and assets ranging from $100,000 to $500,000.

Savio said he lost his home, cars and offices after borrowing too much money from people who never repaid him.

A few years later, after pushing new developments following his bankruptcy, he was able to buy back his home and learned to better organize his financial portfolio. Now Savio creates a new company for almost every project to “isolate liability.”

Savio said his philosophy is to live in the moment rather than fret about the past. But he wasn’t immune to the challenges that come with acquiring wealth.

Attorney fees add up

According to court documents, Savio has fought many lengthy lawsuits — some still ongoing — including a handful of old friends and business associates, the Fullard-Leo family, over what Savio describes as misunderstood “handshake deals” of the past.

In 2020, he closed an $80,000 discrimination case after Savio’s student complexes were accused of unfairly rejecting applicants with children.

“I have over $5 million in legal fees so far,” he said.

Commercial real estate agent Mark Ambard, who has worked frequently with Savio, said he thinks Savio is often misunderstood.

“I’ve worked for a few developers and most of them work for a pretty big piece of the pie, usually more than 15 percent have to get out of business to be interested,” he said. “But Peter pays himself a salary, tells his investors that every year I pay myself this lump sum on this deal, and then the rest of it, you know, is profits.”

And though Savio hasn’t declared a formal plan for running for governor, even Democrats seem intrigued by the idea.

“I’m curious to see what he has to say,” said Democrat Jon Yoshimura, a former state senator. “He’s done some unique things in the past to help solve some of our pressing housing issues, so maybe he has some innovative ideas on how to deal with other issues we’re facing.”

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